I have been working at Austin Lane Technologies full-time (Less than a year)

Pros

Such a friendly atmosphere! I just started working here but I can already tell I'm going to really enjoy it. Everyone is here to help you, and there's a total open door policy with upper management. Very hands on, but without micro-managing. Excellent starting salary for anyone coming out of college. Benefits and PTO are also great! Very much a part of a team here and it's a goal-oriented work environment, which is great for someone who wants to make an actual difference and who can work hard. Also a great work/life balance. Rarely have to stay past 5pm unless there is a deadline.

Cons

Faith-based/christian company, which I don't mind and they never try and push religious views on you, but just something to be aware of. Not a lot of room to advance in the company, but it is growing in employee numbers every year.

Advice to Management

They do such an amazing job being really hands on in their business and with their employees. Being able to talk openly and honestly with upper management is such a rare find, and these people have it!

Austin Lane is a small company so you will make good friends working there, if you're interested in learning multiple parts of a how a business practices this is a good place because you will wear several hats and be responsible for filling what would be several roles at a larger company.

After working there I truly believe the president of the company Austin really cares about his employees. However, most employees (regardless of how long they worked there) for some reason leave the company in bad standing and the company will bad mouth them once they are gone for one reason or another. When you put in your two weeks notice fully expect to be immediately lectured and walked out.

Annual reviews usually result in a pay raise (~5%) if you meet or exceed expectations. I've only heard of one employee ever not getting a raise in an annual review.

They will hire current students or employees without a college degree, this can be great for some people but not necessarily fair for those with more education/credentials because salaries are typically the same.

If the company were to check internet browsing history many employees would be in trouble because several employees have "flown under the radar" for years and have spent half of their time there on Reddit or YouTube. If you want a place that has consistency, learn the software and rarely be outside your comfort zone, and good work life balance this could be a great fit for you.

Most of the clients austin lane has are awesome and are very fond of the employees at austin lane. You'll make connections here.

I'm glad I spent so many years here because I learned a lot and grew as a professional, but I'd never come back due to lack of opportunities to advance.

Cons

A particular co-founder (not CEO) is notorious for not getting along with his subordinates and is directly responsible for some great people I worked with leaving the company. Introducing new software paradigms, frameworks, and practices common in the industry will be completely ignored and you may even be verbally targeted for bringing them up. He wants the company to operate using software practices 15 years outdated or ones created by himself. My advice for working here is to never challenge him, because regardless of how much useful knowledge you have you will not win because he's your boss (and he will pull that card).

You'll never know how much other companies pay austin lane for their software and services, and inquiring about other employees salaries or disclosing yours is "a fireable offense". I've never had a company preach to me that "money doesn't buy happiness" more than Austin Lane. One individual there I know is very high performing and loyal to the company and I believe they have unfairly underpaid her for years now with their hush-hush closed-door system.

If they ever find out you're applying for other jobs, they will either walk you out or give you the ultimatum to either stop or leave. Instead of treating their employees better so they want to stay they typically threaten them so they have to.

I'm pretty sure Austin Lane makes up job titles so their employees are less marketable in the industry and so they can justify paying them less. First of all, what exactly is an "ALMobile Mobility Specialist" or a "Software Team Supervisor". The first has literally zero transferability to any other relevant job at any company and the second sounds like a glorified babysitter or like the company is scared to offer anyone a position with "Manager" in the title.

One individual I worked with was offered full-time while in school and was told that the company would "work with his/her school schedule". This basically resulted in the company allowing the individual to take classes outside of a typical 8-5 work day, but to my understanding this individual didn't know this until after a job offer was formally accepted.

Advice to Management

Be open to new software practices and ideas, if you don't innovate in the world of software you won't continue to thrive.

Give employees stake in the company and your retention rates will skyrocket.

Time tracking makes employees feel micro managed, if you need employees to write down what they've done every 15 minutes a day to understand performance than you're not managing well.

Have less closed door meetings, employees love and respect transparency.

Great people to work with. Good benefits. Amazing technology variety and scale. Strong diversity and inclusion atmosphere. Plenty of opportunities to move horizontally. You have access to upper management. I was paid well and enjoyed the work.

I have been working at Austin Lane Technologies full-time (Less than a year)

Pros

I started off as an intern at Austin Lane while pursuing an engineering degree at the local university. The role rapidly developed into a full-time position.Small company that is growing exponentially, is established with a large client base, and has enormous growth opportunities for new hires and interns. Great group of people to work with; everyone knows each other on a first-name basis. You immediately start noticing how vital and important each employee is. Be prepared to make many friends.Senior management has worked every position that the company offers and have been in the industry for many years so they know their stuff. They are easily approachable, set realistic goals and standards for everyone, and practice what they preach. There is absolutely no drama or work politics. Senior management takes great care and detail in hiring the right person for the roles and has a talent for recruiting gifted people. They prefer to promote from within the company rather than just get someone to fill a position.Company offers team-building, company dinners, and various events throughout the year. Since the company is relatively small, everyone pulls their weight. What everyone does is very transparent and there is nowhere for slackers to hide. Austin Lane keeps expanding and growing so every day there is something to do.The development team is given full range and freedom to develop solutions. Interns are given the opportunity to work alongside them to really get to know the software. Development team is always helpful at answering questions or pointing you in the right direction. You’ll learn more about the software development cycle in the first few months than all four years of college.

Cons

Small team size with a rapidly increasing client base so when someone is out, everyone is affected.Company is getting larger and quickly filling up its offices so office space can be a bit tight.

Advice to Management

My advice to interns is to apply if you really have the drive to make a career out of it. This is not just another internship to throw on that resume. My advice to management is to keep doing what they’re doing. Keep hiring the right people and keep maintaining the great work ethic, culture, and atmosphere of Austin Lane as it continues to expand.

I have been working at Austin Lane Technologies full-time (More than 5 years)

Pros

Working for a small business has many more opportunities for knowledge growth and development. As a developer, I am able to work on the cutting edge technology for our software solutions. I am directly contributing to the companies growth and customer satisfaction with our software, which makes me feel accomplished and excited to come to work everyday. We have a great team atmosphere throughout the office.

Cons

The company was built on Christian based views and beliefs, which is great for the ownership to keep as guiding values. However, these beliefs do blend with the day-to-day work, which make some employees uncomfortable.

I have been working at Austin Lane Technologies full-time (More than a year)

Pros

Small company with great valuesEveryone has a common goal and works towards itExtremely tight knit team, with a focus on having an excellent business cultureNo slackers / Everyone pulls their own weightCore values and a company that always does the right thingTeam is allowed to design technological solutions with little to no micromanagementI feel like I directly make a difference within the company and towards clientsCompany is very fair to both clients and employeesGreat opportunities for growth as the company growsPerformance is rewarded fairlyYou'll make fast and excellent friendsGiven the small company size, you get an opportunity to handle diverse responsibilities that you may not get a chance to at a larger companyThis is the best team I've ever worked with

Cons

Time tracking can be cumbersome, but senior management is actively working on remedying that

Advice to Management

Keep doing things the way you've been doing them, this is a very special company, and has some of the best people I've ever worked with.

Austin Lane is consistently growing (the number for company size that is currently posted is too small). I am excited to see where it is going.

The working atmosphere is really great as there is plenty of comrade going on. This shows during work and outside work. For example, many of my team members play on a kickball team together and those that are not playing (like myself go out and watch).

Senior management has a genuine concern for each employee and consistently pours into team members. They perform one on one evaluations with suggestions on how you as an individual can grow. Regular team buildings occur where senior management go over life skills that we as individuals need at work and outside of work.

What has really spoken volumes to me is that everyone will make a mistake but not everyone is willing to admit their mistakes. I have seen senior management admit their mistakes to us.

Cons

I really do not have much in regards of cons. However, sometimes team buildings go over the allotted time

Small office - family atmosphere.Co-workers were very friendly.Exposure to a wide variety of technologiesFriendly customer baseManagement was made up of genuinely good, honest folks.Management was approachable and offered good coaching.

Cons

I wasn't fond of keeping and recording my time every day, but to be fair, everyone recorded their time, including senior management.Tended to be short-staffed more often than not.

I have been working at Austin Lane Technologies full-time (More than 3 years)

Pros

Developers are given extensive creative freedom to develop solutions to software issues and when developing new additions to the product. Management is open to embracing new technology, libraries and services when appropriate, and are very much for self-motivated learning and research of these same concepts.

Projects taken on by the team are mostly interesting, and lead to many opportunities for personal advancement in knowledge and skills at no cost to the employee.

Management likes to keep updated on what the team members are working on, but do not go so far as to micro-manage employees. This gives a good feeling that they are aware of all the current projects and will not overload the team.

The office is very close-knit, and all team members are friendly and easy to work with.

Feedback on development decisions and project planning is frequently solicited from the team, and all recommendations are considered seriously.

Cons

Small team size means more responsibility per team member

Legacy internal systems can lead to workflow issues

Little free time to work on personal projects

Advice to Management

Focus on updating development hardware/systems on a more frequent basis

Look at structuring development time to allow for more internal/personal development

Some dishonest and incompetent management.Focused more on getting tickets closed ASAP instead of taking the time to get the job done right.Poor communication and lots of finger pointing.Senior management doesn't take any responsibility.High employee turnover

Advice to Management

Just be honest and do good work.The office is not an appropriate place to continually offer political opinions. No matter how sincere and deeply held, they end up alienating people, and are always irrelevant to getting work done.